Sports Illustrated's mid-year MMA awards

[MMA_Playwright]

SI.com's '08 mid-year MMA Razzies

Story Highlights SI.com hands out the most pointless awards in MMA Among the big winners are Kimbo Slice and Forrest Griffin

Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson looks atrocious at the Country Music Awards. Charley Gallay/Getty Images Tila "Talentless" Tequila. Can't you picture her with Josh Koscheck? AP Blond and bizarre: Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson. Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Getty Images Forrest Griffin, Randy Couture and James Thompson have the most "unique" ears. Courtesy of Zuffa; AP

We gave you the legitimate awards. Now it's time for the fun stuff. Who boosted your self-esteem with their crazy antics? Who made your rags-for-a-wardrobe look like designer duds? Welcome to SI.com's mid-year Razzies, where the worst-of-the-worst are showcased for all to enjoy ... yet again.

Face of MMA (for better or worse): Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson.

Money Man: Lorenzo Fertitta of Zuffa. Millionaire trying to make more millions steps away from billion-dollar industry into multi-million dollar industry in hopes of turning it into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Nuthin to Sumthin: Forrest Griffin. From TUF to UFC champ, "Ears" got game.

Greatest Feud: Randy Couture vs. Zuffa. Yes, the contract dispute is ongoing and seemingly never ending.

Biggest Party Pooper: The State of New York. MMA's ongoing battle for regulation across the United States crashed and burned in the Big Apple. The New York Assembly failed to push forward a bill that would legalize the sport in the state.

Biggest Whiner: Juanito Ibarra. Dude, get over yourself. And ditch the hat.

Foolish Yet Brilliant: Jesse Taylor. Perhaps the only man in the world to put on a public drunken rampage and get paid for doing so -- legally, that is. See you at UFC Fight Night 14.

  

[MMA_Playwright]

Worst Dressed: Kimbo at the Country Music Awards. The fact that he was even at the event is a whole other issue.

Best dressed: Jay Hieron. Stud.

Best female fighter: Gina Carano. Bring it.

Best body: Georges St. Pierre. Words are not needed. (Currently sweating.)

Hottest Ring Girl: Rachelle Leah. Not sure if she's still an Octagon Girl but does it really matter?

Man Amongst Boys: Anderson Silva. It doesn't matter if he's only fought once so far this year: The man's a beast.

Most Likely to be on "A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila": Josh Koscheck. He's just not right. They'd make a cute couple.

Best Victory via Ass-Beating: Kimbo. (He's on a roll!) Bursting a dude's cauliflower ear is not in the rule book under means of TKO. Lying on the mat like a beached whale does not equate to a skilled ground game. And shaving your body hair into pretty shapes doesn't help your cause on any front.

Most Quotable: Tim Sylvia: "Half of this game is 90 percent mental." Aside from the obvious, Sylvia blows away the others in this category because it's a STOLEN dumb quote that's been mangled to sound dumber. If you're gonna steal a quote, don't take Yogi Berra's. And if you're dumb enough to take Yogi's, don't mess it up even more.

Worst Hair: Tito Ortiz. Just because your girlfriend has bleached-blonde hair doesn't mean you should too. And how you maim a buzz cut?

Best Book Reviews: Randy Couture's new book with Sherdog.com's Loretta Hunt, entitled Becoming the Natural, has been praised by the likes of Time, Brett Favre, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Joe Rogan, "Big" John McCarthy, Rob Schneider, Criss Angel and Mark Cuban. Quite the mix there.

Worst Intro: Phil Baroni looking like a pimped-out Santa Claus at CBS-EliteXC's inaugural "Saturday Night Fight." Quite the prime-time debut.

Family Feud: Daddy Diaz vs. Daddy Noons. When's the rematch?

 

[MMA_Playwright]

Worst Trash Talker: Tito Ortiz on Dana White. Telling someone you would have shanked him when you were younger just makes you look moronic. Strike two for Tito.

Least Likely To Form a Cohesive Thought: Nick Diaz. Case in point: I'm here to fight. I'm not trying to be a movie star. I'm not trying to wear a [expletive] suit like K.J. Noons. I'll save my money to buy some [expletive] weed. You know what I mean? I'm trying to enhance the quality of my living. That's the same reason why I will fight people, I will get high, because that's a higher quality of life. You know what I mean? I don't [expletive] do drugs and I don't do no [expletive]. You know what I mean? I'm trying to enhance the quality of my living. Whatever is going to do that. I'm not down for [expletive] chemicals. You know what I mean? I'm down for whatever is going to do it. If fighting and whatever else I do and saying [expletive] you, and being able to do that and still make money, you know, sounding ignorant.

Greatest Set of Ears: Three-way tie between Forrest Griffin, James Thompson and Randy Couture. Couture hasn't fought (officially) in almost a year and those things are still disgusting. Unfortunately for Griffin, those bad boys are natural. Sorry, buddy. Tough break.

 

[MMA_Playwright]

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/nicki_jhabvala/07/10/2008.midyear.awards/ 

[MMA_Playwright]

 

Best-of-the-best ... so far

Story Highlights SI.com honored the best round, knockout, submission and fight so far in '08 The 'Axe Murderer's' comeback was worthy of the 'Best Knockout' award Shinya Aoki's gogoplata took the award for 'Best Submission'

<!--startclickprintexclude--> <!--endclickprintexclude--> Not only is Miguel Torres the WEC bantamweight titleholder, but he's also the proud owner of two SI.com mid-year awards. Courtesy of Zuffa, LLC Related Links <!--startclickprintexclude--> <!-- START 'inlineAd' FILE: /.element/ssi/story/4.0/writers/josh_gross/.branding/default/inlineAd.html --> <!-- ad writers/300x250 --> <!-- FINISH 'sponsorLinksInline' --><!--endclickprintexclude-->

It's hard to believe we're more than halfway through 2008. In what has been a roller-coaster year of action in cages and rings around the world, mixed martial artists have never before enjoyed more prominent venues to showcase their skills.

Though we've got a long way to go before the year's end, so much has happened that it's worth reflecting upon the best in four mid-year categories.

Best Round:

Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda -- Round 2, WEC 34

In front of an appreciative crowd in Sacramento, Calif., the 135-pounders went to war for three rounds before doctors stopped the contest because Maeda's right eye had swelled shut. While the entire fight offered quality action, it was the second round that really stood out.

Defending his World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight belt against the Pancrase champion, Torres met resistance each time he attacked -- and he attacked a lot. Maeda refused to be pushed out of the way by the dangerous champion, making a competitive round incredibly exciting as 10,000-plus fans inside Arco Arena went wild when the two exchanged leg locks.

Each fighter took hard shots. Each recovered. In many ways, the second was a perfect round, having displayed the skill and will that only the best fighters carry into the cage.

  

[MMA_Playwright]

Runners-Up:

• Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith -- Round 2, CBS-EliteXC's inaugural Saturday Night Fights

There was no backing down in this EliteXC middleweight title fight. Lawler and Smith refused to give in, resulting in some dynamic exchanges. Though the bout resulted in a no contest when Lawler accidentally poked Smith in the eye, the 185-pounders return to the cage July 26 the resolve the battle.

• Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le -- Round 3, Strikeforce

With both men fighting in their hometown of San Jose, Calif., the crowd was electric as Shamrock and Le made their way into the third period of their Strikeforce middleweight championship fight. Le hurt Shamrock's right arm early in the round, and later broke it at the wrist. That, however, didn't prevent Shamrock from unleashing right hands as the period came to a close.

Best Submission:

Shinya Aoki -- gogoplata, DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix

Not since Kazushi Sakuraba captivated audiences with his improvisational submission skills has a Japanese fighter provided a must-see TV event. With submissions like the one he pulled on Katsuhiko Nagata, Aoki is quickly becoming the man to fill Sakuraba's legacy.

In the second round of the DREAM bout, Aoki smoothly weaved his leg under Nagata's right arm and over his neck with few even noticing.

The notion of finishing a fight via gogoplata -- a choke submission applied using leverage and a shinbone -- was virtually unheard of in MMA until Aoki pulled the funky move from the guard against Joachim Hansen on New Year's Eve 2006. Soon after, though, everyone was trying the submission. But few have been able to replicate Aoki's grace and effectiveness. And even fewer will be able to match the control that Aoki exhibited when he finished the submission from the mount against Nagata.

Runners-Up:

• Dustin Hazelett -- armbar, The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale

Submissions can come out of nowhere, even with the most dynamic fighters. Hazelett's stunning armbar against Josh Burkman is a perfect example.

• Demian Maia -- triangle choke, UFC 83

Like Aoki's mounted gogoplata, the mounted triangle is not an easy thing to finish. Maia made it look simple by putting Ed Herman to sleep in their middleweight tilt in Montreal.

Best Knockout:

Wanderlei Silva's knockout of Keith Jardine -- UFC 84

It wasn't the cleanest knockout of the first half of '08, but Silva's destruction of Jardine was by far the most vicious.

The Brazilian former Pride champion found Jardine's chin early. With Jardine down, Silva, his aggression on high, unloaded a series of shots that had the former bounty hunter sprawled on the octagon canvas unconscious. This was vintage "Axe Murderer" -- an encouraging sign for Silva's long-time followers who felt he might've lost a step in recent years.

Runners-Up:

• L.C. Davis's head kick vs. Rafael Dias -- IFL New Jersey

A brutal knockout at the end of this three-round fight, Davis raised his left leg and launched it perfectly into Dias' face. The American Top Team lightweight was carried out of the ring on a stretcher before fully recovering.

• Shintaro Ishiwatari's KO of Kazuhiro Ito -- Shooto

A fight 99 percent of you probably haven't seen ... until now.

 

[MMA_Playwright]

Best Fight:

Miguel Torres def. Yoshiro Maeda via TKO

Torres-Maeda had everything you want in a fight: skill, heart, emotion, fortitude, aggression, submission and striking. Add in the facts that it was being contested for a major title in one of the sport's most exciting divisions and that, as mentioned earlier, the second round of the five-period clash was hands down the best round of the year, and it shouldn't be a surprise it tops this list.

Within the next six months, it will take a tremendous effort on the part of two fighters in a meaningful bout to remove this fight from the top of the best bouts of 2008.

Runners-Up:

• Cung Le def. Frank Shamrock via TKO

Simply an exciting bout between two unique fighters -- Le's spinning attacks and powerful kicking game against Shamrock's cerebral approach. In the end, Le's strengths led him to victory, but the fact that Shamrock punched to the very end despite a broken right hand should be a good indication of how this one went down.

• Forrest Griffin def. Quinton Jackson via decision -- UFC 86

Still fresh in our minds, Griffin-Jackson was the best UFC-promoted bout of the year so far. Forget the controversy surrounding the judges' scores. Griffin and Jackson went toe-to-toe over five rounds to determine which light heavyweight would stand atop the UFC's deepest and most important division. Griffin won out, though he almost immediately acknowledged a rematch would be necessary -- a prospect many fight fans were quite pleased to hear.

Josh Gross will periodically answer questions from SI.com users. E-mail him at jgwriter.si@gmail.com.

 

[PTSandman]

I don't know where to start. I have a massive headache after reading that crap.

[Ramy_Daoud]

ttt

[funkjoker]

the razzies are bullshit but i can't agree more with the other article.

[PTSandman]

Country Kimbo has to be a romothread by now somewhere. Linkage?

[MMA_Playwright]

ttt

[Mad_Xyientist]

 Worst article:  The SI Razzies. 

[Kai_Tremeche]

People cry too much

[goeb]

I don't get the Koscheck, thing with tila whatever her name is. I'm so confused.

[StrikeAnywhere]

 Holy crap....the camera shot of dias out cold with a broken nose makes him look like a dead body